'I completely understand the focus on primary care networks, it's not a surprise, that has been the direction of travel for some time. What will be interesting is to see how that physically translates into action.'

He said more details are needed before he can say for certain how this will affect GP practices finacially.

'If you talk to any accountant or lawyer they will say, fine the arrangement is interesting but what is the legal structure. Who has liability, how will it work? Is it a state body, is it a limited company, is it an unlimited partnership, there are a lot of possibilities, but we need to understand what is being together here, so we can then interpret how this work for tedious issues like pension regulations,' Mr Senior explained.

He said there will also 'need to be some very fast action around pension legislation, to avoid people not being able to pension income', especially considering the short deadline for setting up the networks.

'Understanding the structure of how it will work is very important from the perspective of risk and more boringly tax. You don't want to find that there is a 20% tax in the woodwork that no one saw coming.

'I would hope that someone at the department has done a lot of work in the background, and they just have not been able to give the detail at this stage,' he said.

But added: 'I think practices will have the opportunity to earn more, but there is still a question mark on whether they have the workforce to do that. I think the plans to use other staff such as physiotherapists and pharmacists is laudable, but there is not an army of these people out there ready to start. There are staffing issues in these professions too.'

Meanwhile, AISMA board member and Hall Liddy director Andrew Pow said the contract 'should leave GPs better off', although the push for networks will make it harder for small practices to work independently and could lead to more mergers.

He said: ‘The uplift and having the majority of their indemnity paid should leave GPs better off. At least the indemnity issue gone for the future, the professional has been after that for years. This covers the whole of the practice.

‘The network side is where all the new money is going to go, but some networks are already quite established. Smaller practices can’t work in isolation, they will have to work in groups. Will this lead to more mergers of practices? It probably will do in the long run.’

Mr Pow also warned that while the indemnity deal could bring down most costs for GP partners, the cost of covering locum indemnity out of the global sum could hit practice finances, unless locums decided to reduce their fees to take that into account.

Until the figures of the global sum are released, however, it is difficult to say exactly how this new contract will affect practice finances, Mr Pow added.

The global sum for 2019/20 has not yet been decided, but it will be an increase on the £88 per patient that practices currently receive, Pulse has learned.

Responding to the contract, AISMA vice chairman and MHA Moore and Smalley partner Deborah Wood added: 'There are a number of positive messages in the new contract, but overall the devil will be in the details.'

I'll believe it when I see it too. The way it goes, inflation is 2.7% and anything more is taxed at really high rates. There is an article in the Telegraph about how at a certain level people are actually paying 60% tax. Expect no windfall but I won't be surprised if you end up with less in your pocket and has to work harder and has more legal liabilities.

Most of the new money is going to federations not to individual practices. The question is will the new funds / manpower be equitably distributed, rather than go to those practices that are ‘in’ with the local power base?

no pay rise above inflation, costs going up, no seniority payments, NI contributions to rocket, still paying 30% of any extra staff costs with no guarantee of future funding, all schemes come with caveats to make it really difficult to achieve 100% of any funding stream, mpig gone, rates rising, loss of tax relief if earning above 100,000K. no child benefit for higher earners, locum costs will increase as demand outstrips supply. petrol costs high, phone call and text costs sky high as technology and change of consults methods changes. buildings to expensive to repair. public health funding decimated and dumped on general practice with no funding. social services funding cut and dumped on general practice with no funding, welfare payments and support systems cuts and dumped on general practice to deal with with no extra funding, pysch teams decimated and workload dumped on general practice to sort with no extra funding, patients discharged from hospital too early and dumped on general practice to sort with no extra funding, hospitals dumping workload on general practice with no extra funding and no training or support systems for multiple complex patients and i still see my pay reduce year by year such that i now take home less money than i did in 2008. thanks guys, because every little bit helps - for early retirement that is.

If any accountants genuinely believe this then best not employ them to advise you.
If a small increase in funding does materialise, it will be easily offset by the increase in nonsense work inflicted on Practices.
With the 2004 contract the additional nonsense work was offset by a substantially increased income. That is clearly not happening this time.

That's a good thing for you isn't it?
Anyway I want to become a locum--I just can't easily extricate myself from the practice.

My accountant always tells me how well I am doing. I seem to have increasingly high tax bills and less take home pay. I think he muse mean I'm doing well as my tax bills are so big. Too big for me to pay them. I don't understand anything. I wish I was a physio or in prison or something.